Saturday, 4 April 2009

St Jude's Day

It's not really St Jude's Day as that's supposed to be on October 28th but St Jude is the "patron saint of desperate cases" (aka "lost causes") and I'm sensing his presence particularly closely today, the reason being that I've always seemed to be on the side of the underdog. When I was growing up I lived in Brighton so it was compulsory to support "The Albion" who, apart from an FA Cup Final appearance (which they lost) have never really done anything. At the age of nine I discovered American Football (not discovered in the true sense as other people had known about it for years) and chose the Minnesota Vikings to be my team. Apart from three Superbowl appearances in the 70s (which they lost) they haven't done much and haven't been back to "The Big Game" since then. You can see a trend developing here can't you?

Fast forward the Thursday this week and my friend, and fellow Worcester Park resident, Neil sent me a text:"Do you want to go and see Southampton play Charlton on Saturday?"For those who haven't been following the sports news this week Southampton FC's parent company went into administration this week which is a very bad thing for a football team indeed. Neil is A True Supporter™ of Southampton from boyhood days and remembers their seasons in the top echelons of English football but their current financial situation means that they may not make it to the end of the season. My only experience of seeing them play was going to see them in a pre-season friendly at Woking with Neil a few years back. I understand his plight. I empathise entirely. After discussion with Mrs Brinkster I texted back and said "yes". It's what mates do.

That means I'm off to Southampton at lunchtime to see if the faithful can summon the presence of St Jude to rescue their desperate case and, perhaps, even win the game. Time will tell but if they're lucky they'll be around to celebrate the next St Jude's day.